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Trying to lose weight is so difficult. I wish it were as easy as swallowing a pill and having your excess fat just melt away. But maybe then everyone would just binge-eat and take those pills and be completely unhealthy. It’s definitely mind over matter but, more often than not, the mind isn’t very good at asserting itself.

Exercise? What’s that? I’ve been seriously lacking in that area. I must go back to that workout program Julio gave me.

I do the cooking in my house and have absolute control over the menu, but there are just so many recipes I want to try out! Our bookshelves are taken up mostly by my cookbooks, with a “healthy” cookbook shoved in here and there. I have been trying to eat much better this week. I consciously have to make an effort to spoon a smaller serving of rice onto my plate and a bigger serving of vegetables. It’s been tough saying no to dessert, and having just one serving if I can’t.

And what do I have to show for it? One pound less. I suppose that’s much better than one pound more! I have four and a half months to lose 24 more. Putting it that way, I have a long way to go!

A week’s gone by since I started my diet. I lost 4 lbs. within 4 days but my weight’s plateaued since then.

What have I been doing differently? Not eating starch, for one. For someone who is used to having rice or pasta or bread or potatoes with every meal, it’s been easier than I thought it would be. I’ve cheated (quite a lot!) and had a teeny slice of cake for dessert or just one piece of chocolate, or even an Oreo, but generally I’m right on track. I haven’t been cooking with salt. I’ve also been eating things like this lentil dish. It was pretty tasteless, and on hindsight I should have probably used dried lentils instead of canned.

Or this corned beef and bean concoction with fried egg for breakfast. I know it doesn’t look appetizing, but it’s pretty darned good. After eliminating salt from our food, this one seemed a bit too salty. But it was good enough to wolf down anyway.

I know, I know. I said we were going to go on a Paleo diet. And legumes, apparently, aren’t on the list of Paleo food. But we were going the Slow-Carb route too, and I had loaded my pantry shelf with cans of beans. Julio said to just use up the stock of canned beans we have then go Paleo as much as possible. I love beans. I think I was okay giving up the starch because I could have beans. But now, no starch and no beans? We’ll see how that goes.

What else have I been up to? I’ve also done some exercise. Not much, mind you. Just twice since I started the weight loss program. We took Bea to U.P. to practice riding her Strider bike, and Julio watched her while I took a 30-minute walk.

In my first post in the 30 Off! series, I mentioned that Julio created a workout program for me. I’m supposed to do it twice a week for 2 weeks, then increase the number of workout days. In the one week since I started the diet, I’ve only done it once. And it was tough! It consists of swinging a 10-kg kettlebell and doing squats. My legs and arms were pretty much Jello by the time I was done. And my butt ached the next day. Still, I suppose I might as well stick to the regimen if it’s going to help me lose weight faster. Although I’m sure the cheat weekend didn’t do my body any favors.